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Ketrab I
Entering the outskirts of Ketrab, an Elven mission (The Big L'rrrch, Melisende, Doc Brown, and Shyon) is greeted by the sight of a dark foreboding forest, with trees that grew and twisted in unnatural formations. Their orders are clear, to investigate the political climate of the city of Ketrab; the once great capital of a fallen empire. They are also to try to locate the previous two missions that were sent before them, but had never reported back. As soon as they enter, they are accosted by what appears to be hostile monkey's, only, somehow they don't seem right. After dispatching them, they are confronted by a two humans, a hooded figure, and a Mammotaur (Scotticus, Vandroiy, Lao, and Zombor). Their leader identifies himself as a member of the city guard, and says that they'll escort the elves to an outpost for safety. Not long after departing, they're attacked again by much larger, fiercer beasts. The hooded figure reveals himself to be a hideous mutant, as he starts firing blasts at the enemy. The party fights bravely (except for Shyon, who hides), but they are overwhelmed by the larger numbers, and retreat. Lao however, falls behind. On the run, the humans explain that there are boats nearby that can safely take them across the water. As they get to the docks, the beasts catch up, but Lao makes his timely return, falling off of a cliff and crushing the monsters below. The party makes it to the waters, and distance themselves from their pursuers *The elves are brought to the outpost in the woods. It's three story tall structure surrounded by a walled courtyard. Scotticus gives them access to roam the grounds while the others talk with their leader. The elves come across a merchant, who greets them rather hostily. Identifying himself a Gaughran, the merchant gets threatened by the Big L'rrrch after insulting Melisende, and starts giving up information about the humans here. The elves learn all about Reaping Wind, the anarchist group the alleged city guardsmen belonged too. Investigating the commotion, Scotticus and Vandroiy learn that their cover has been blown. Lao asks them to show Gaughran some mercy, and Scotticus seemingly agrees. Until he signals the archers to kill him as he leaves the city. The elven party feels like they may share a common cause with these rebels, and agree to travel together for the time being. But no sooner than this accord is reached, the base comes under attack, and Scotticus' friend, a reaper named Ted Sheckler, is killed in the attack. *The party defends the base from the assault by the Imperial troops. The Reaper's leader, Zerzan, promises the elves aid for their quest in return for their help. They agree, and head north, tracking some of the escaped troops, who may reveal the location of the reaper base. They find and defeat the troops, but not before one of the Imperial mages, a young man named Kazi, sends a message to the palace. In the aftermath of the battle, the party now has to decide what to do with the enemy combatants ("You are all our prisoners" declares Lao). The mammotaur insists that all ten of them remain with him, fearful of what might happen if left with the elves. But he is outnumbered in this approach, as the rest of the party votes in favor of slaying them. Lao only manages to keep Kazi alive. Here the party splits; Lao, Kazi, and Vandroiy heading back to the Reaper base (at Vandroiy's insistence), and the others headed to a place just outside the breach; Mutant Town. *Hands bound, Kazi is marched back by Vandroiy, begging to be released and generally annoying the Ranger. Even when battle comes, Kazi's hands remain bound to prevent his spellcasting. After a ways, they come across the crumbled ruins of a city wall, Lao collapsed through the floor and lands inside. Surprisingly, he finds living inside a young woman; Sekhmet. Hulking and headstrong, she is initially hostile towards the party. When pressed about why she is living alone in the woods, she reveals a wound above her eye, a wound that had been infected with mutant blood. Fearing persecution in Ketrab, she chose to exile herself to the wood. Eventually, Sekhmet agrees to join with Lao and Vandroiy after helping to battle a dire boar. The fight proves to be fierce, and Vandroiy relents and has Lao untie Kazi. As they approach the base, Kazi turns and blasts Lao with a spell, turning and running to join a patrol of Imperial troops. Vandroiy starts to give chase, but turns around to look after the fallen monk, swearing his vengeance against Kazi. *The rest of the party arrives in Mutant Town, which is more of a ramshackle neighborhood than an actual town. They head towards the main building, a two story inn suitably titled "The Shithouse." Inside, they meet the bartender and de facto leader of the mutants, Hrrak. They learn of the pitiable state of the mutants, and the constant harassment they face at the hands of Freeside's gangs. Enraged by the plight of his mutant brethren, Zombor speaks up. He lambasts the mutants for accepting their situation, and urges them to fight back, a suggestion no one had previously though possible. The mutants begin to look at Zombor as a true leader of their fledgling race. *At the Reaper base, Zerzan has come up with a plan to get back at the Triumvirate. Along with his head mage (who we'll call Bob since no one can remember his name), he's devised a plan to destroy Project Purity, an imperial complex that was built to combat the corruption (but had become the base of operations for Nazeer Shah-Adel, the cities top general and Triumvirate member. Vandroiy is initially for this assault, though Lao in good conscious can't. Vandroiy's attitude starts to change after a plea from Zerzan's son Azo, who describes what will happen if the corruption is left unchecked (which reminds the Ranger why he joined Reaping Wind in the first place). Azo fights his father for control of the group, and brings the battle to a stalemate as Sekhmet joins his cause. It is decided that Vandroiy (repping Azo) will debate Bob (repping Zerzan), with the winner and leader of The Reapers being chosen by vote. Thanks to the ranger, Azo is chosen as the new leader of Reaping Wind. Zerzan is put under house arrest, and Bob, well, he is hung after Vandroiy kicks him of the top of the tower with a noose tied around his neck. *Vandroiy and Lao head back to Mutant Town to inform Scotticus of the changes in The Reapers power structure. They also introduce Sekhmet to the group (and Shyon takes an instant dislike to her). Hrrack brings them up to speed on whats happening with the mutants. All of the gangs roaming the Freeside district have been harassing them, raiding homes, killing mutants, etc. The worst of the groups are The Firestarters, a gang of backwards ruffians who have made their home in the ruins to the east and are ruled by a mysterious woman known as the Flame Dancer. As the party makes their way towards the Firestarter territory, they are waylaid by some of the members. Killing all but one, Scotticus sends him back to The Flame Dancer with a message. They are coming, and they're not afraid. *Entering the heart of the Firestarters compound, they're a bit shocked to see some semblance of society among the crazies, barracks, mess hall, a large arena, and the throne room. Entering, they come upon the Flame Dancer, a red-haired woman dressed entirely in red, and whose speech and intelligence are a stark contrast to the rabble that she commands. The Flame Dancer takes an immediate interest in the elven members, Shyon in particular. She invites them all for an orgy in her chambers, but only Doc Brown and Shyon accept the invite, with the others retiring to the guest rooms. In the middle of the night, Scotticus sneaks out to try to assassinate the Firestarter's leader. However, he is caught snooping around by the now enraged Flame Dancer, who sentences him to trial by combat in the morning. He was able to name The Big L'rrrch as his champion (with the Flame Dancer choosing her chief consort as hers). It was a brutal fight, but the furor of The Big L'rrrch won the day as he completely dismembered the Flame Dancer. Then, in a move that left Shyon stunned, the gnoll demanded that the Firestarters name him as their new leader, which they do. *Back at Mutant Town, Hrrack informs the party of another group that has been harrassing them; The Archons. Hrrack's information led the party to a bar in Archon territory, where their leadership hung out. The party took up positions in and around the bar, waiting for the right moment to strike. Unfortunately, that moment almost came too soon, as Shyon was nearly caught trying to entrance one of the gang members, a man called Peanut (or at least thats what he called him). Sotticus tried to mislead the Archons into leaving with some forged documents, but was found out. Their cover blown, the party made short work of the Archon leaders, while The Big L'rrrch had ordered the Firestarters to burn and kill anything they found in Archon territory. However, that wound up including innocents, which sent Zombor into a rage, calling their newfound allies a liability. Back in Firestarter territory, The Big L'rrrch tried to gain a hold of the situation, but was challenged by one of his own. The man revealed himself to be ex-army, but when the party grilled him for information, he quickly fled using a magical ladder. Unable to give chase, Melisende summoned a celestial monkey to track the stranger. *In Mutant Town, Vandroiy and Doc Brown are approached by Hrrack. A mysterious stranger has appeared asking about them, claiming to have information on Kazi. They are brought to this man, who refuses to divulge his name, only that Kazi and some other mages are conducting experiments in the Tomb of Tumak (a warrior of legend and one of the Hundred Heroes). In exchange for this info, the man only asks that Kazi be brought to him. Agreeing, the two (along with Sekhmet), make their way to the Tomb. Inside, they do battle with a Yrthak (a large winged creature) that had been exposed to corruption. Upon it's defeat, Vandroiy claims the horn as his own. Exploring some more, they encounter a lake, where Doc Brown summons a shark to investigate the waters. The shark comes to a cave near the bottom, but as he swims through, discovers that there is no water on the other side, and plummets (inventing the Shark Drop in the process). The three make their way down and discovers that the man's information was indeed accurate. Doc Brown sends a swarm of spiders at the mages, and they're able to enter the tomb undetected. Donning the ancient heroes armor, Doc Brown manages to scare off the mages, while Vandroiy and Sekhmet secure their prize, slicing off his hands so he can't use his magic. Returning to Mutant Town, they hand the mage over to the stranger, who takes him to the top floor of the Shithouse. Though Vandroiy and Sekhmet hit the bar, Doc Brown is suspicious, and goes to the roof to spy. He discovers that the stranger is going to take Kazi back to the city, and alerts the others. They give chase, but he dumps Kazi and a bag and flees, and tailing him is a celestial monkey! Doc Brown claims the bag (which contains several orbs), and Vandroiy exacts his revenge on Kazi, adding his head to the list of body parts removed. *Distractions removed, the party decides the time for subtlety is at an end, and make plans for a large assault on Project Purity. This is the site of the Triumvirate's attempts to purify the corruption haunting the land, and also the base of the hero Nazeer Shah-Adel, the head of the military in the city. They've received a tip the the head of the project, a man named Rhoba Xopek, has become frustrated with Nazeer's meddling in his project, and could be swayed to help the Reapers. After some debate, the plan is set. Scotticus, Vandroiy, and Shyon will sneak into the compound to speak with Xopek, while the others launch an assault from the other entrance to draw attention away. As alarms and fires blaze, the trio meet with Rhoba Xopex, finding the once brilliant man reduced to a drunken mess. After some coercion, the only relevant information they can get is that Nazeer is in the compound right now. They meet up with the others, while the Firestarters wreak havoc all around them, and make their way to Nazeer's tent. Battle ensues, and Lao is mortally wounded (though he's able to be revived). Seeing the battle lost, Nazeer leaps into the waters to try to escape, but Doc Brown summons a shark to thwart his attempt. As Nazeer crawls out onto the bank, bloodied and now infected with corruption, Doc Brown steps up and deals the final blow. The party escapes to Mutant Town, handing the Ketrabi government their biggest defeat since the war with the Elves. *With the impending government crackdown on the gangs of Ketrab, the party looks to ally themselves with the most powerful group, the Will To Power Society. This was a community ruled by mages, the first to secede from Ketrab after the fall of the emperor. They were the most civilized of all the gangs as well, as their compound was clean and well guarded. The group met with Lazari, the head of the Society, and his smiling, oddball second Surkhan. Though they were sympathetic to the party's cause, they refused to offer any direct aid. However, they told the party they would consider it in the future if they helped them with a task. A lich had moved in to the ruins nearby, and Lazari wanted it gone. The party agreed to help, but The Big L'rrrch made a strange request; to obtain the power of the Liches. Intrigued, Lazari promised more answers when they returned. Making their way to and through the ruins, the party came across the Lich, and to the surprise of the Elves in the party, he turned out to be a member of the original group sent to Ketrab. Yet he stood before them, twisted and undead. He lambasted Shyon and Melisende for joining forces with the humans, and urged the two to destroy them here and now. When they refused, the crazed elf attacked, but was soon defeated. Returning to Lazari, he promised cooperation from his group, but he wouldn't openly battle the Triumvirate. And to The Big L'rrrch, he gave a ring, which he claimed would allow him to reach lich-hood. *The party heads to the Beehive in the slums, where the meet the unofficial leader there, Boss Jan. The situation there in tense, as opinions of what do to are split. Those following Boss Jan are advocating for peace, while a man named Repaalik is encouraging the slums to take up arms. Nikala, Boss Jan's girlfriend and bodyguard, approaches the party about alleviating the situation. Inside the Beehive, the two factions nearly come to blows, but the party is able to keep the peace. Nikala continues to hound the party about doing something about Repaalik, which earns her the wrath of The Big L'rrrch. The description of Repaalik seems familiar to Vandroiy, who believes that this man is the Harvester, the one who has been dogging the party seemingly every step of the way. They form a plan, where they will send Melisende out to try to seduce him. However, that fails, and, aware of the trap sprung for him, produces her celestial monkey, now trapped in a cage. He flees, and the party gives chase, only to run into government troops in the streets. Falling back to the Beehive once the fighting gets too intense, The Big L'rrrch viscously clotheslines a man running to the party offering help. His name is Kresh, and he offers to help the party to attach power orbs to their weapons. Returning to the Beehive to inform Boss Jan of what has transpired, Nikala and The Big L'rrrch get into it again, and this time he transforms himself into a horror, traumatizing many of the poorer Ketrabi citizens. *The party is approached by The Harvester, who surprisingly isn't looking for a fight. Instead, he beseeches the group to follow him to his master. They make there way to the palace district, where it is revealed that the city's regent, Umir Drehlar, is the one responsible for the Harvester. Umir offers a truce with the party, information on their missing elven brethren in exchange for removing Princess Rashida from power. The Reaper members are ready to draw swords right then and there, but the Elven members make the agreement. Umir sends The Harvester with them. The plan is to break into a party of nobleman, who are meeting to show their support for the princess and the Cult of the Emperor. The party sneaks into the mansion through the sewer system, but just before they make their ascent to the mansion, The Harvester is assassinated by Shyon. Entering the mansion, the party (minus Vandroiy, who flat out refuses to cooperate with Umir) plans on frightening the guests by disguising Doc Brown as a ghost of an ancient warrior. Through this ruse and with other magics, the Elves are able to slaughter many of the guests (several being Rashida's consorts), and take one hostage, a wealthy nobleman named Dehgan Nopex. They are able to learn of Rashida's plans to resurrect her father at the Onyx Pyramid. The party leaves the area, and prepares for what lies ahead. *Umir is confronted by the party, and he reveals his true vampiric form and attacks. Vandroiy's previously unknown corruption is revealed as his is put into a coma and transformed by Umir's magic. Doc Brown tries to help Vandroiy by setting him on fire (it doesn't work). *One of the members of the Will To Power Society, Surkhan, is able to heal Vandroiy of his affliction. Vandroiy alerts the group of the connection between the Emperor and the corruption. *The group learn of Princess Rashida's plans to resurrect her father, Emperor Udaan-Zu'Rei. They head to the Onyx Pyramid for a final confrontation. Shyon is killed in battle. The group kills the reincarnated form of the Emperor, as well as the Princess. *The Big L'rrrch ascends into lich-hood, and attacks Scotticus. Scotticus is able to trick him into entering another plane by mimicking the voice of Shyon. The group releases several Elven prisoners, including Laythe and the justicar Acheron.